A Mouse That Chews

For years I have been trying to get Mouse to keep things that aren’t food or drink out of her mouth. Not just her fingers, but pens and pencils, buttons on her dresses, any other part of her clothing she can get into her mouth, the edges of paperback books, hair ribbons, if it can go into her mouth it does. Now that sort of behavior is fine if you are a toddler, but she’s 5 and a half and when we go to the grocery store she chews on the seatbelt strap of the cart or “tastes” the edge of the checkout counter!

I found myself saying constantly “Take _ out of your mouth. You aren’t a baby anymore.”